Insole for hob-nail shoes



(No Moder.)-

G. HOOVER. INSOLE FOR HOB NAIL SHOES.

'N0. 250,539; Patented Dec. 6.1881.

leather, leather of considerable body or thick- NITED STATES WILLIAM G. HOOVER, or PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

lNSOLE FOR HOB-NAIL SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 250,539, dated Dedmb'er 6 1881. Application filed September 27, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM G. HOOVER, of Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered a new and useful Improvement in Removable Insoles for Hob-Nail Shoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-like letters indicating like parts- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a shoe having an insole therein illustrative of my invention, and Fig. 2 is a bottom view of my improved insole.

My invention relates to a ventilating-insole for hob-nail shoes; and itconsists in a removable inner sole made of sole-leather, and having on its under face grooves or channels of size and arrangement adapted to permit passage of air through the same beneath the foot of the wearer. In shoes designed for use in iron-mills and other places Where exposed to heated floors,- cinders, bits of iron, &c., it is customary to cover the bottom more or lesswith hob-nails, which, by preference, are driven through the bottom and clinched to prevent them from dropping out. These nails are designed to prevent the shoe from burning and other injuries, and while they serve the purpose for which they are used, they also act as heat-conductors, and often render the foot of the wearer so hot as to cause great discomfort and serious trouble. My improved insole is designed more particularly for use in this class of shoes.

Myimproved sole A is made of ordinary soleness being preferred. The under face of this sole A is scored with a number of crossing or intersecting grooves, a, forming thereby a network of channels in the sole, which afford passages for circulation of air. These grooves a may be made longitudinal and transverse, as shown, or, in other directions, and at various angles of inclination, as desired, the purpose being to obtain an extensive'ramification and intersection of grooves.

It will be observed that the upper surface of the insole is continuous or unbroken by perforations or openings, and that the grooves or channels'a on the under side open or discharge at the edges of the sole only. This I consider one important feature of my improved insole, since in the use for which it'is intended the air under such sole, being exposed more or less directly to the heat-conducting nails, becomes quite hot, and, if allowed to come in contact with the bottom of the foot, as would be the case if the insole were perforated, it would tend to blister the foot, being more or less confined thereby, and thus cause great discomfort and injury. To remove this trouble of blistering by conducted heat is the principal object of myinvention. This difficulty is peculiar to this class of shoes, and I obviate it by making the insole of leather (a good non-conductor) and providing in its under surface grooves or channels for escape of heated air, which discharge or open at the edges of the sole only; where such air can most readily escape over and around the foot without coming in contact with the bottom of the foot.

I am aware that removable insoles have been made of rubber and other flexible materials, some being perforated, as before stated,'and others having channels formed on the under side by various forms of raised rubber ribs, so as to afford elasticity and ventilation; but such insoles, made Wholly or in part of rubber, cannot be used successfully for" the purpose for which my improved leather sole is intended, owing to the high degree of heat to which they would be exposed in such use through the heatconducting property of the hob-nails used in such shoes, the heat being sufficientin iron-mills and similar places to melt or fuse the rubber, and thusdestroyitforitsintended use; or,if rubber be not used in such insoles, and the raised strips or ribs which form the channels be oflleather, still they would not stand the heat if cemented to the sole, as has been done heretofore, and any efficient mode of connecting such separate ribs to the sole would involve such expense as to render their use in hob-nail shoes impracticable. By using sole-leather and scoring or cutting a net-work of grooves in the body of such leather on the under side of the sole, as described, the ribs or elevations which separate the grooves are of the same material as and integral with the body of the sole, and the above named difliculties are avoided; also, a cheap insole is obtained, which is efi'ectivefor the purface to permit escape of heated air at the edges poses described,-and adapted to aclass of serof the sole, substantially as and for the purvice for which no other ventilating-insole of poses set forth. which I have knowledge can be used with prac- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 5 tical and commercial success. my hand.

I claim herein as my invention 7 The removable insole A, for hob-nail shoes, WILLIAM made of sole-leather, having a'continuous unperforated body and upper surface, with a netto work of grooves cut or scored in its'under 'sur- Witnesses:

O. L. PARKER, R. H. WHITTLESEY. 

